"I like being with a group," she says. "I've had the most fun when I'm with people, so to be at a table with four others every time I sit down, it feels like you're always eating with the cool kids."

Though she's appeared on the show before, Haines says that she's ready to challenge herself as she takes on the role in a more permanent capacity. One question she often asks herself is: "I always have opinions, that's not hard, but how do I communicate those clearly and concisely?"

But mostly, she's just excited to jump into the thick of it. "To have a job where it's my responsibility to be up to date and to watch things, it just makes me feel more educated. I'm using that part of my brain that I think sometimes, with digital technology, gets lazy. You do quick things, you do Instagram, you check things, but you don't often get into deeper, editorial conversations or things that make you question the world."

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As she goes forward, Haines says she'll keep in mind some advice she once got from co-host Whoopi Goldberg: "Do you, because you're not going to do anything else well."